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Listen to the Interview with Liberty Madison

Meet Liberty Madison

This special episode of the Innov8social Podcast features an interview with Liberty Madison, a futurist, tech and media expert, and entrepreneur. Through her various lenses of experience and expertise we explore what it mean to be a millennial startup entrepreneur. Liberty, who has also popularized her social media persona #ThatTechGirl, is a founder of multiple entrepreneurial endeavors and initiatives—with the overarching goal of furthering tech entrepreneurship among millennials.

Liberty has been featured on HuffingtonPost, ABC, CW, Perth Australia Tech and she co hosts SF New Tech, a monthly pitch session, in San Francisco.

As you’ll hear from the interview, Liberty has worked on initiatives such as a wearable tech apparel line called Python Ear Code and launched a startup hub for entrepreneurs in Oakland. When she interviewed Tim Draper, he affectionately called her the “Oprah of Silicon Valley.”

Liberty’s passion is translating tech to talk by introducing technology to the masses and removing barriers to entry. As she works to build tools, resources, and platforms for millennial entrepreneurs, we get to ask her about the shift in the mindset of millennials from creating traditional businesses to create mission-driven businesses.

So, let’s say you agree that telling a social impact story is different from other kinds of pitches. How, then, do you decide the optimal channels you should use to develop and deliver your impact story?This incredible graphic posted by Qmee.com provides a helpful perspective of relevant channel, engagement, and can help you make a strategic decision on where your social enterprise can get the most value for the time, resources, and paid advertising you might spend.

A New Chapter for Innov8social, and a new Podcast

That is the theme of Innov8social’s new podcast. And what a true exploration the past four years have been. In June, Innov8social will turn 4 years old.

Innov8social started as a blog

It started in 2011 as a blog–one to examine a phenomenon of new legal structures, resources, and tools, at a time when five states had passed to create legal standing for companies that sought profit and mission.

in a changing landscape

Fast-forward to 2015, over hundreds of blog posts and dozens of interviews, and the landscape has continued to evolve. Twenty-seven states now have a form of the benefit corporation, just one of a few legal structures to recognize companies seeking something more than a single bottom line. To boot, another four states have passed a form of social purpose corporation legislation. Still others, nearly a dozen, have passed another form, called the low-profit limited liability company (L3C)… read the entire post on LinkedIn.

https://www.innov8social.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/mic_innov8social-podcast_image_e.jpg320320neetalhttps://www.innov8social.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/logo_web.pngneetal2015-06-01 22:03:002015-07-02 12:03:03Innov8social is now on LinkedIn's "Pulse"!

Over the past few years, Innov8Social has featured dozens of interviews with a broad spectrum of doers and thinkers in the social innovation space. We have used different means of capturing and sharing the interviews, including text interviews, video, and audio formats.

After a few months, and interesting journey of consolidating and centralizing the audio interviews, we are excited to announce our new Innov8Social Podcast on SoundCloud! With sound design and sound engineering by Schizophrenic Housecat, over 20 interviews have been posted and are ready for your listening pleasure!

We are constantly looking for ways to connect social innovators and aspiring social entrepreneurs to the knowledge, experience, content, and inspiration to help them on their journeys. This is another way to reach listeners, and we hope it simplifies the process of finding and listening to the stories and experiences of these thought leaders.The journey continues! As every, thanks for joining us and hope that together we can find new and innovative ways to think about define, and create positive impact.

Through a confluence of interesting happenings, I had the chance to do a quick phone interview with Gary Vaynerchuk, social media headliner, last month. It. Was. Awesome.

Gary talks social entrepreneurship. Listen in.

A few notes: this was done on Google Voice, so you will hear the “start recording” message. You will also hear the runaway guest star of the interview, i.e. Gary’s GPS.

Takeaways:

Gary’s thoughts on social cause marketing–It is at an interesting point in maturation. Business people are leveraging cause marketing, not sure if it’s a good thing–will it cause consumer cynicism?

Business models that have caught Gary’s attention: buy one, give one is clever, so is giving percentage of retail price. He is more concerned about the passion of founding entrepreneurs of a startup—how are they evangelizing the message of impact + business?

Gary Vaynerchuk, a household name after 2008 TED Talk

A little background on Gary, and my sincere enthusiasm in having a chance to chat with him. Gary has been a household name for me and my entrepreneurial siblings since we watched his TED Talk —“Do What You Want (no excuses!)”— about a year after it was posted.

To be fair, I think we were as captivated by his passionate, colorful speaking style (note emphasis of phrases such as “please stop doing that!” and “there is no reason [in 2008] to do $#@! you hate!”) as by the clarity of his message. [tune in, esp. to 25-55 sec :]

There is something refreshing about his vigor and unapologetic, no holds bar approach to entrepreneurship. He went all in for his new venture, saw traction, and was committed to making it grow. Let’s just say, at moments demanding inspiration, I have tuned back in to this talk—and maybe even joined him in some of his memorable phrases.

Gary V’s empire now expands beyond WineLibrary TV to include books, a social media consultancy, and investments in upcoming startups. He frequently headlines large social media events and conferences, is popular for his candor and humor, and is unabashed in giving advice to new entrepreneurs. (See him give his two cents to this entrpreneur at a talk at 59:00: warning, expletives)

What would Innov8Social have to ask Gary Vaynerchuk?

Gary Vaynerchuk does not profess to be a social entrepreneur, so why interview him for Innov8Social?

As has been mentioned before, in this blog’s authentic exploration of social innovation, I have found (repeatedly) that one of the hardest part of social entrepreneurship is being an entrepreneur. It is the initial hurdle.

Whether you are enterprising for money, world domination, or social good—there is a pervasive emphasis on taking on the challenge with an entrepreneurial mindset. And that’s why Gary Vaynerchuk was a great candidate to continue and deepen the exploration. In a few words (some of them likely four-letter) he can get to the heart of the matter when it becomes to being an entrepreneur.

Notably, not every entrepreneur needs to be like him. Not by a long shot. But there is an infinite depth that can be learned from his enthusiasm, belief, and strategic thinking when it comes to launching and growing enterprises.

Gary shares what he really thinks about Innov8Social

As you may have noticed from the audio interview (above) we spent part of our 15-20 minutes doing a Q&A for Innov8Social readers. The rest of the time I talked blogger-to-blogger with Gary. I caught him up on my efforts with Innov8Social at the meta level, asked his opinion of how I can focus on growing, and what would be “success” for this blog and effort.

As I anticipated (and hoped), he was frank and honest. From dealing with readership in hundreds of thousands of pageviews, and millions of clicks—Innov8Social is at best a humble effort. It was good to talk to him openly and pause for reflection on my efforts so far, and how Innov8Social can grow into the expansive vision I have for it.

Hope you enjoy listening to our conversation as much as I did having it., and that it provides a different perspective on how a through-and-through entrepreneur views social enterprise.

The field of social innovation, impact entrepreneurship, social enterprise is expanding at an incredible pace. It is a moving stream of information, barreling forward…in a hurry.

For a blogger, that can a unique challenge. You know that what you pen today may be outdated by the time you hit “publish”. However, the dynamic nature of blogs (and the ability to update them) is a silver lining and can make our work more agile.

Blogging in the space, we learn tremendous amounts from other blogs that focus on different niches, hone in on discerning nuances, structure their information distinctly, adopt unique takes on design, and bring something wholly their own flavor to the social innovation table.

With the caveat that this list will be updated as new blogs come to, here are a few interesting blogs in the social innovation space to check out.

We would love to hear your picks and favorites (and even your #socinn blog titles) in the comments.

40+ Blogs on Social Innovation, Impact Entrepreneurship, and Social Enterprise You Should Check Out

https://www.innov8social.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Screen-Shot-2013-04-30-at-7.11.21-PM.png312320neetalhttps://www.innov8social.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/logo_web.pngneetal2013-05-01 02:22:002015-12-18 03:34:0940+ Blogs on Social Innovation, Impact Entrepreneurship, and Social Enterprise You Should Check Out

Amid the dark wood and high ceilings of the second floor of an upscale Irish bar & restaurant in downtown Sunnyvale, CA over fifty people gathered to celebrate and honor the achievements of three local winners of the 40 Under 40 Leadership Awards.The 40 Under 40 Leadership Awards, hosted by New Leaders’ Council (NLC), recognizes emerging leaders across the country who have created impact in fields such as political leadership, social entrepreneurship, media leadership, and effect advocacy.The Silicon Valley Chapter of NLC organized the event to honor the three local award recipients.

If you, like me, couldn’t make the event—-there is a silver lining. At a conference bringing together community leaders and managers adept in the digital space, there is a wealth of learning and sharing about the event online.

https://www.innov8social.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Screen-Shot-2013-02-03-at-9.04.46-AM.png252271neetalhttps://www.innov8social.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/logo_web.pngneetal2013-02-03 17:08:002015-08-01 10:22:29Catching Up On Community Leadership Summit 2013 (#CLSWest)...For Those Who Missed It!

At some point in a social entrepreneur’s journey, there will likely be a need to build a website, a blog, or some meaningful web presence so you can be found. When that happens, you are immersed into the sometimes-clear, often-murky sea of search engine optimization.At the end of the day the goal is to be found online by major search engines such as Google and Bing.When it comes to placating search engines, and even impressing them, the idea of backlinks comes to play. A backlink is when another site links to your site.

Simple, right?

Part Art, Part Science

Google actually evolved from a project originally called BackRub was a way to look at backlinks to a site to determine that site’s importance or relevance of a site. It kind of makes sense, right….if Jane tells you about a great new bakery in town, you’ll listen and maybe be interested. But if Maya, Juan, Roger, Penelope, and Dwayne also tell you about it—-there’s a good chance the bakery recommendation may be more valuable to you.

Now, search engines come up with complex algorithms to try to discern the relevance and importance of a website based on a variety of factors, including valuable backlinks.

There is a great talk on Lynda.com about Backlink strategy called “SEO Link Building in Depth” by Peter Kent. While Kent goes into great detail about various nuances of the art and since of increasing backlinks to your site, here are a few broad overview tips that may be helpful.

5 Tips on Building Quality Backlinks

1. Look at keywords. As you get more comfortable with the logic behind search engine optimization you will start seeing the connection between the words you use on your website and how search engines tend to notice. And you may become an evangelist for effective keywording (i.e. the key terms or phrases you use throughout a page or post to describe its main crux). One place that you can place keywords is in the link title and anchor text used to describe the link. Make the most of these opportunities to be found by using deliberate, researched keywords.

2. Build relationships with websites with related content. If your site is about cake decorating, a back from an auto repair website might be great. But don’t you think a link to your site from a cake decorating tools manufacturer would be even better? There’s a good chance the search engine algorithms agree and value links that are related a similar nucleus of content. It may be worthwhile to build relationships with bloggers and web administrators and social media folks of sites related to yours. Plus, it may also help you discover ideas and other great sites related to yours.

3. Use awesome anchor text. Once you’re in the keyword know (i.e. see #1), try to score great anchor text umbrella-ed in the backlink to your site. Sure you can connect a backlink to site with phrases like click here. But why not use the opportunity to say something meaningful about what the link is linking too, and including some of those snazzy keywords you are trying to highlight…

4. Don’t forget to link within. You may have some wins with closely related sites, linking to yours, and using great anchor text–but don’t forget about your own site as a way to highlight your content. You can use the same practices to link back to relevant content in your site and use great anchor text and rich keywords. You may want to keep track of your content in some content management way so you can easily reference related posts or pages.

5. Focus on what you can control = write great content. Building an army of quality backlinks is challenging. There’s so much you don’t have control over—i.e. whether sites will link to you or not, whether you can suggest that they use great anchor text, and whether you can ever amass enough links to bump up your PageRank. However, there is one thing that you have direct control over. Building amazing, awesome, relevant, helpful, useful content that is off the hook. Focus on this and other sites won’t be able to resist linking back to you. The industry calls this link bait, but link chocolate sounds pretty good too.

Wpromote published this illustrative infographic on how brands leverage social media to create social impact. Google.org, TOMS shoes, Pepsi, OneHope, and Acai Spirit are featured here.

These statistics can be a powerful tool in engaging supporters to champion brands not only through purchases but also through social media. The challenge can become articulating and distributing a compelling narrative that can connect the dots on how social media popularity results in actual social impact.

As of September 2010 TOMS shoes gave away 1M pairs of shoes—with over 1M likes on Facebook. There’s not a direct relation—but as a potential FB fan that is a compelling narrative for how ‘likes’ might be translating to action.

While TOMS has built a brand deeply rooted in a social mission, the infographic also serves to show how popular consumer-facing brands such as Pepsi may be committing more resources to social good projects than most people consider. With over 5M Facebook likes and 100K+ Twitter followers in 2010, Pepsi invested over $20M in improvement projects.

https://www.innov8social.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Screen-Shot-2013-01-05-at-8.00.23-AM.png200140neetalhttps://www.innov8social.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/logo_web.pngneetal2013-01-05 16:07:002015-08-01 11:48:37Infographic On How Brands Use Social Media for Social Impact